As of last Friday, betting platforms in Brazil are mandated to block both new registrations and current users who are part of the New Desenrola Brasil debt renegotiation program from participating in gambling activities. This follows President Lula's signing of the Provisional Measure that established the initiative aimed at providing financial recovery for families. Individuals enrolled in the program will not be allowed to place online bets for a duration of one year.
To enroll, participants must reach out to their banks via official channels. Once they join the program, they will be restricted from placing bets. The Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) held discussions with associations post- signing to provide clarity on the blocking procedures. The Betting Management System’s Application Programming Interface (Sigap) is prepared for operators to consistently verify whether individuals are participating in Desenrola Brasil.
A new code has been added to the SPA system to denote a person's involvement in Desenrola Brasil. Companies are required to confirm if a new client is listed in the program during registration. If they are, the system will indicate “Blocked – New Desenrola Brasil Programme.”
On May 5, SPA released Ordinance SPA/MF No 1,237 to regulate these prohibitions, along with Normative Instruction SPA/MF No 3, which mandates operators to prevent registrations for program participants and suspend accounts for existing bettors who join. Operators must inform users if their registration fails due to their enrollment in Desenrola Brasil. A Manual for Blocked Users was introduced to help standardize the registration blocking process across operators.
Moreover, operators are required to check if clients have joined Desenrola upon their first login each day. If identified on the blocked list, the platforms must restrict access to those clients. Active bets must be canceled immediately if a participant's involvement is detected.
Legally, betting sites must notify customers that they cannot place bets as soon as it is confirmed they have joined the program. Suspensions must be executed within three days of detection, and operators are obligated to inform users of the reason for the block prior to suspension. Customers must withdraw their funds voluntarily; otherwise, the betting site will issue refunds within two days to the payment method on file. Operators must keep detailed records of all communication with users for at least five years, documenting the date, time, communication channel, and message content.
Banco do Brasil will centralize the list of Desenrola Brasil beneficiaries to facilitate access blocking for a year. Banks will relay beneficiary data to Banco do Brasil, which will then transmit the list of CPF numbers to SPA. Betting companies will continue using the system to check on Bolsa Família beneficiaries; however, it has been updated to include individuals in Desenrola.
From May 15, new registrations will be denied if individuals are already part of the program. Companies should verify the blocked customer list at each day's first login for active users, and by May 20, they are expected to review their databases for all program participants.
